Nowadays, liquor is often bottled in distinctively designed and labeled bottles and specialized dispensing apparatus are often used in bars to dispense the liquor. To increase the visibility of the distinctive liquor bottles and facilitate the dispensing of the liquor contained in them, the bottles are often inverted, or inclined, and mounted in the apparatus which is then placed in locations so that it and the bottles mounted therein are readily visible to the consuming public, e.g., on bar counters. In use, the liquor flows from the bottles into the apparatus and specifically into connection with a refrigeration unit in the apparatus and is cooled to a desired dispensing temperature by the refrigeration unit prior to being dispensed from the apparatus.
Apparatus of this type often use conventional refrigeration systems to cool the liquor to the desired dispensing temperature. However, the use of such conventional refrigeration systems presents certain drawbacks, most notably the fact that these systems are bulky and relatively inefficient since they require numerous components such as a compressor, refrigerator coil, condenser, pump, fan and other associated refrigeration equipment, all of which are subject to wear and tear.
To overcome these drawbacks, thermoelectric cooling is now used in some apparatus to cool the liquor in a manner similar to thermoelectrically-cooled water coolers. Thermoelectric cooling provides a more efficient cooling of the liquor with a minimum of components in a compact space. Generally, a thermoelectric cooling unit includes at least one pair of elements made of a semi-conductor material coupled together at junctions at each end, such as by means of a respective electrical conductor. A pair of semi-conductor elements coupled together in this manner is often called a "thermocouple". The application of low-voltage direct current to the semi-conductor elements results in the cooling of one of the junctions and the heating of the other junction, i.e., the conductor comprising one junction coupling first ends of the semiconductor elements will be heated while the conductor comprising the other junction coupling second, opposed ends of the semiconductor elements will be cooled.
In prior art beverage dispensing apparatus that utilize thermoelectric cooling, for each beverage to be cooled, there is at least one dedicated thermoelectric cooling unit comprising one or more thermocouples. It is a serious disadvantage of such apparatus that thermoelectric cooling units are quite expensive and the use of several such units in a single apparatus makes the cost of such an apparatus quite prohibitive. Another design of an apparatus for dispensing chilled beverages utilizing thermoelectric cooling is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,195 (Knuettel, II) and includes a single thermoelectric cooling unit comprising a plurality of thermocouples for cooling the beverages. The dispensing apparatus accommodates several bottles and includes a single beverage outlet faucet. Separate flow-dispensing paths are provided for each beverage, each of which passes through a common thermoelectric cooling unit so that during dispensing, each beverage will pass through the common thermoelectric cooling unit to the outlet faucet. Thus, Knuettel avoids the expense of having separate thermoelectric cooling units for each beverage by providing a system for passing the beverages through the common thermoelectric cooling unit to maximize the use thereof However, since all of the beverages flow through the same passage in the common thermoelectric cooling unit during dispensing, a beverage being dispensed at any given moment may mix with residual amounts of other beverages previously dispensed thereby altering the taste of the beverage being dispensed at that moment.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,069 (Newnan) describes a compact, thermoelectrically cooled beverage dispenser which in certain configurations includes two beverage receptacles, and two thermoelectric cooling assemblies, each for cooling a respective beverage receptacle. Each thermoelectric cooling assembly includes a pair of conductor plates made of thermally conductive material, a first one situated proximate to the beverage receptacles and a second one spaced from the first, and several thermocouples arranged between the conductor plates. When a voltage is applied to the thermocouples, the first conductor plates proximate the beverage receptacles are cooled and the second conductor plates are heated. It is a disadvantage of this construction in that it requires a separate thermoelectric cooling unit for each beverage receptacle thereby increasing the cost of this beverage dispensing apparatus. With respect to the use of a single heating or cooling unit for heating or cooling several liquids in individual compartments, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,416 (Smith) which describes an apparatus for heating hair shampoo and other hair and scalp-treatment liquids in which electric heating coils extend beneath a number of liquid-receivable compartments, each of which has a separate dispensing nozzle. In operation, the electric heating coils heat the liquid in all of the compartments.